MLB

UPDATE – WATCH: This Strasburg Guy Has The Nationals Excited, Too

You probably wouldn’t get much argument if you christened yesterday and today the most exciting two-day period for the Washington Nationals since they moved the franchise down from Montreal. Last night they selected former Sports Illustrated cover boy Bryce Harper with the #1 pick in the MLB first-year player draft, and tonight, their #1 pick last year (also first overall) begins bearing fruit, as hotly-anticipated Stephen Strasburg (and even that’s probably an understatement) makes his major league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

UPDATE: Well, we see what the hype was about. Strasburg’s line tonight: 7 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs (both on a 4th-inning home run by the Pirates’ Delwyn Young), no walks, and oh yeah, 14 strikeouts. That total included striking out the side in his final two innings. The Nationals allowed Strasburg to slightly exceed his set pitch limit of 90, but since he was pitching like he was from another planet at the time, they were more than forgiven. Absolutely as advertised – fastballs consistently hitting the high 90s, filthy movement on every breaking ball – it was all there. Throw in a playoff-like atmosphere in the crowd and you’ve got an instant classic moment. Watch Strasburg’s final batter below; this is fantastic stuff.

How hyped is Strasburg? Well, he’s #5 among baseball players in blog buzz despite never having pitched a game in the major leagues, not to mention #11 in news buzz. All this is to say nothing of the hype at the ballpark itself. From the linked ESPN article:

Standing room only tickets went on sale Monday, all part of a rare Nationals Park sellout. The Internet is humming with offers for good seats. More than 200 requests for media credentials have been submitted, forcing officials to turn a dining area into a work space to accommodate all those reporters with laptops.

For the Nationals, Strasburg’s major league debut is best summed up in one word.

Finally.

“I’m looking forward to that first outing or two being out of the way,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “I know the attention’s not going to go away completely, but the anticipation of the thing has been building since the draft — and before the draft — last year.”

No one’s seen anything like it. A No. 1 overall pick who gets sellout, rock-star, hire-extra-security treatment in minor league cities such as Harrisburg and Rochester. It’s the type of overexposure usually reserved for top picks in the NFL or NBA.

And then there’s Joe Posnanski. One of the most rational writers around, he did his best to temper the Harper Hype a week ago, reminding us that, yes, Harper is 17 and won’t likely be an instant star in the pros. Strasburg? Posnanski’s all-in. Oh, sure, he’ll use his looming debut to muse on the nature of hype, but make no mistake, he thinks the guy is ready to excel right now, and the scout he talked to who expressed doubts about Harper agrees:

“With Strasburg, he was Major League ready the day the Nationals drafted him. The only risk was injury. There was never any question that he could step right off campus into the big leagues and, with his stuff, get big league hitters out.

That’s a pretty strong endorsement – and it seems when it comes to Strasburg, endorsements are all you hear. For all the uncertainty involved with top prospects, everything that can go wrong, how tough it is to live up to such lofty expectations, the heart of the matter is this: Stephen Strasburg makes his MLB debut tonight. We can’t wait.

AP photo, via